News
Report: MFI loans force land sales, increase in child labour
A report from local human rights NGOs Licadho and Sahmakum Teang Tnaut (STT) claimed that the increasing levels of debt caused by taking loans from microfinance institutions (MFIs) is forcing rural families to sell off land. The study also claimed that the sharp rise in debt ...
Thou Vireak
https://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/report-mfi-loans-force-land-sales-increase-child-labour
Digital transformation ‘new growth engine’ for Kingdom
With the rise of Industry 4.0, digital transformation will be the new growth engine that Cambodia needs to realise its long-term vision of becoming a high-income country, an economic expert said on Tuesday. Speaking at the 13th annual outlook conference, which was organised by Cambodia ...
Hor Kimsay
https://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/digital-transformation-new-growth-engine-kingdom
Firms eye Kingdom as tariffs mount on factories in China
The Kingdom is becoming more attractive than ever for fashion companies that are looking to diversify their supply chains in response to the escalating trade war between the US and China, industry experts say. ...
Hor Kimsay
https://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/firms-eye-kingdom-tariffs-mount-factories-china
Exports to US see 26% growth
Exports to the US grew 26 per cent in the first half of this year, despite tensions over the Kingdom’s July 29 national elections. This stands in stark contrast to last year when export growth to the US was in single digits. ...
Hor Kimsay
https://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/exports-us-see-26-growth
Exports rose 19 percent: Commerce Ministry
The Commerce Ministry yesterday announced a 19 percent surge in exports for the year and a quadrupling of revenue collected from import licence fees, but would not provide analogous figures for total imports or explain what could be driving the increases. According to the ministry’s annual ...
Cheng Sokhorng
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/exports-rose-19-percent-commerce-ministry
Growth spurt of exports to Japan weakens in H1
Growth of exports to Japan slowed during the first half of 2017, marking the lowest half-year growth rate in nearly a decade, newly released data from Japan’s development agency show. ...
Hor Kimsay
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/growth-spurt-exports-japan-weakens-h1
Gov’t okays $5 bil for 2017 budget
The National Budget 2017 was approved on Friday by the Council of Ministers, with a government expenditure of about $5.04 billion. This represents an increase of about 15.6 percent compared to the 2016 budget of $4.36 billion, according to a government statement. ...
Sum Manet
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/31146/gov---t-okays--5-bil-for-2017-budget/
AIIB urged to fast-track loans
Cambodia’s Minister of Economy and Finance last week made a request to a visiting senior official from the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) to speed up loan approvals for least development countries (LDCs) in order to spur infrastructure development. Aun Pormoniroth made the request to AIIB ...
May Kunmakara
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/28195/aiib-urged-to-fast-track-loans/
Panalpina comes to Cambodia
Switzerland-based Panalpina Group, the world’s leading provider of forwarding and logistics services, specializing in intercontinental air and ocean freight and associated supply chain management solutions, officially opened its own office in Cambodia yesterday. ...
Sok Chan
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/28198/panalpina-comes-to-cambodia/
Loan for silos in limbo
There seems to be no definite period of when a $300 million loan from the Chinese government, to build large silos to store rice for milling, will be disbursed to the Cambodian government. ...
Sum Manet
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/28139/loan-for-silos-in-limbo/
CARDI raises climate change concerns in report
A report from the Cambodia Agriculture Research and Development Institute (CARDI), a semi-autonomous organisation, showed that 83 per cent of farmers surveyed in Kampong Speu, Kampot and Kampong Cham provinces had noticed the effects of climate change. ...
Kali Kotoski and Sorn Sarath
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/cardi-raises-climate-change-concerns-report
FDI on the rise, but figures questioned
Official figures released last week showing a surge in foreign direct investment during the first half of this year may not be the most reliable indicators of actual investment, as they reflect proposed investments rather than actual foreign direct investment (FDI), experts and executives say. ...
Igor Kossov
http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/15158/fdi-on-the-rise--but-figures-questioned/
Agriculture decline to hit poor
The World Bank said last week that Cambodia will likely graduate to a lower-middle-income nation in 2015, on the back of sustained poverty alleviation, stable economic growth and progress made on reducing inequality between the rich and poor. ...
Ananth Baliga
http://bit.ly/1EiFYb3
Rice export target a big task
The pace of Cambodia’s rice exports are expected to slow this year. Unable to maintain the steady rate of previous years, the export volume for the first half of 2014 is much the same as it was this time last year. At the end of June, ...
Hor Kimsay
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/rice-export-target-big-task
Trade deficit prompts call to diversify exports
Cambodia’s trade deficit expanded to almost half a billion dollars during the first three months of the year, according to the latest figures from the Ministry of Commerce. Between January and March, Cambodia’s exports reached $1.99 billion, up 19 per cent compared to the same period ...
May Kunmakara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/trade-deficit-prompts-call-diversify-exports
Rethinking investment laws
Cambodia’s 11-year-old investment law may be the most liberal in the region, according to the World Bank, but in practice, day-to-day business operations are far from simple, economists and business operators say. Mey Kalyan, senior adviser to the Supreme National Economic Council, said that despite a ...
Eddie Morton
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/rethinking-investment-laws
Trade hurt by political and labour turbulence
Cambodian trade reached a total of $15.9 billion in 2013, equaling an 18 per cent rise from 2012, according to the Ministry of Commerce. Exports were valued at $6.9 billion, up from $5.5 billion a year earlier, with garment and textiles accounting for more than 80 ...
Eddie Morton
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/trade-hurt-political-and-labour-turbulence
EU clarifies rice comments
While the European Union Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht never told the Ministry of Commerce that Cambodian rice was “30 per cent” mixed with the same product from Vietnam, he did say Cambodia had to better ensure that its harvest was homegrown and not from ...
Eddie Morton and May Kunmakara
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/eu-clarifies-rice-comments
Economy Should Do Well, Despite China Slowdown: Experts
Although China has undergone an unprecedented economic slowdown, Chinese and Cambodian officials believe it will not seriously affect Cambodia’s economy. Over the past nine months, China’s GDP grew slightly above 7 percent, its slowest pace in 13 years, and some economists expect poor performance for the ...
Khoun Theara
http://www.voacambodia.com/content/economy-should-do-well-despite-china-slowdown-experts-cambodia-khmer/1748785.html
Officials in ‘contract’ farms drive
Officials are seeking expert firms to implement projects on so-called contract farming and the enhancement of the involvement of farmers’ organisations in paddy collecting and processing, officials said. Contract farming is an agreement on agricultural production carried out between a farmer and buyers, which establishes conditions ...
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013052265766/Business/officials-in-contract-farms-drive.html
Value of construction in Cambodia skyrockets
The amount of money spent on construction in Cambodia soared by 72 per cent in 2012 compared to 2011, according to data from the Ministry of Land Management, Urban Planning and Construction. The ministry said it had issued 1,694 construction patents covering 6.5 million square metres ...
2013 National Budget to Rise Above $3B
Government spending next year will total more than $3 billion, a 16.2 percent increase from the $2.6 billion set aside for 2012, according to a draft of the national budget obtained Friday. The budget states that the government will allocate some $400 million, or 13.32 ...
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/business/2013-national-budget-to-rise-above-3b-5428/
Cambodia, Japan team up to diversify economy
Government officials have joined forces with Japanese experts to formulate a new plan for economic diversity in Cambodia. Foreign direct investment in Cambodian industry has largely gone to garment manufacturing during the past 10 years, putting the country at risk of economic shock in the event ...